The consultation asks whether changes should be made and proposes three options as to how the changes could happen. Current legislation in England is that outside of London, parking partially or fully on a footway is not an offence so it cannot be enforced except against Heavy Goods Vehicles, on Cycle Tracks or where a Traffic Regulation Order exists.

The three options proposed as changed to this are:

1. Improving the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) process, under which local authorities can already prohibit pavement parking.

2. A legislative change to allow local authorities with civil parking enforcement powers to enforce against ‘unnecessary obstruction of the pavement’.

3. A legislative change to introduce a London-style pavement parking prohibition throughout England.

The consultation comes after the Transport Select Committee published a report on pavement parking in 2019 following their inquiry in to the matter. See CIHT's response to that inquiry here. That report recommended that the government opened a consultation on pavement parking with a view to making obstructive pavement parking an offence subject to civil enforcement under the Traffic Management Act 2004.

In 2019 the Department for Transport also did some research into the issues caused by pavement parking. It found that out of 68 local authorities surveyed, 57 were experiencing 'widespread problems' from pavement parking. The problems arise mainly from the difficulties that pedestrians can have when cars are parked on pavements. This is especially an issue for vulnerable pedestrians. 

The full consultation can be found here. 

If you would like to contribute to CIHT's response to the consultation, please contact technical@ciht.org.uk.